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“Did your mom ever get to ride in one?” Sawyer asks, startling me out of my stupor.
“Uh, no. I don’t think so.”
“Why did she point them out?” She hugs her arms to her chest.
“Probably because I was a little kid and she thought I’d like it. Or that it would distract me. Either way, she did it often enough that I think of her whenever I see one.”
“Do you think she would’ve liked it? If she could ride in one?”
I look around me, realizing that Colorado is surprisingly flat unless you’re in the mountains. And balloons are anticlimactic.
“I think she’d like one of those helicopter tours better.”
That earns me a warm smile, the kind I used to be able to coax out of her when no one else could. For the first time since I picked her up I start to feel like I have a shot at pulling this off.
After the balloon ride, we get back into the car, this time driving west, until we come to a dirt road about twenty minutes out of town. Sawyer sits taller in her seat.
“Is this…”
“You recognize it?” I hold my breath, waiting to see if her reaction is the one I want.
“It’s where…” Her cheeks turn adorably pink as the memory hits her, sitting on my lap as the truck bounced over the choppy road back in high school.
“Have you ever been here in the daylight?”
She grips the armrest as the truck lurches over a giant pothole.
“I was only here the one time. Are you going for a walk down memory lane thing?” She wrinkles her nose. God, I’ve even missed that expression.
“Revisiting the past wouldn’t really tell you much about who I am today, would it?” I cast her a wary smile.
“I guess not.” She grits her teeth as we roll over another hole. “How is it possible this road is even worse than it was before?”
“Dirt roads.” I chuckle.
It takes another thirty minutes to reach our destination–the road really is in bad shape–and I have to go slow to spare the undercarriage of the truck. As we round the final corner, I find the pull off I want and park the car.
“Where are we?” Sawyer frowns.
“There’s a trailhead about fifty yards down the road. I thought we’d take it.” I open the door and climb out. She does the same.
“You want to run on the trail? That’s a different type of running shoe.” She bends over to stretch her legs, then shakes them out a few times before jumping in place.
“Huh.” I rub my chin, watching her instead of doing my own stretches. “Well, I’d actually prefer to hike the trail than to run it, but I’ll run if you want. You go first though.”
“So you can watch my ass?” She casts a wry look over her shoulder as she saunters toward the trailhead.
“So I don’t slow you down, although if you’re volunteering to give me a nice view I won’t object.”
She pauses to study me for a moment. “You weren’t always this forward.”
“I was trying to hide the fact that I lusted after the girl who literally lived across the hall. Now I don’t have to.”
She narrows her gaze. “How far are we going?”
“You’ll know when to stop.” I wink.
She gives a little shrug and starts jogging, leaving me to scramble after her.
